Abby

What began as a straightforward trip to the hospital quickly became a life-changing journey for eight-year-old Abby and her family, when what they thought was tonsilitis turned out to be cancer.

“The whole experience was very surreal, like we would wake up and this would all have been a bad dream,” says Abby’s dad Steve. “The few days following the diagnosis were some of the hardest of our lives.”

In August of 2025, shortly after Abby’s eighth birthday, Steve and his wife Anne took her to HSC Children’s Hospital because her tonsils were swollen. What they anticipated would be a short visit turned into four difficult months of treatment.

Abby’s team discovered the mass in her throat was solid, and a biopsy confirmed it was cancerous. Then a CT scan revealed she had at least two other masses in her abdomen.

Abby was diagnosed with stage three Burkitt lymphoma, an advanced fast-growing cancer that had spread from her lymph nodes into other organs. She needed to start chemotherapy right away and spent the next four months in hospital.

“The diagnosis was extremely hard on our family and the thoughts of our daughter having cancer took an emotional toll,” says Steve.

Steve remembers the team at HSC Children’s supported their family by patiently and compassionately answering questions about Abby’s condition, checking in on them often, and providing intentional opportunities for Abby to play and keep busy like with visits to the playroom.

“As we moved through the treatments, we learned that there are many other worries, like how the long hospital stay would affect her mentally and socially,” says Steve. “There were weeks when she didn’t eat and only communicated with nods, head shakes, thumbs up and thumbs down; times where she would sleep the whole day; and full days of head and body aches.”

Abby’s family is grateful to experts working to improve cancer treatment for kids, like the Pediatric Research in Oncology in Manitoba: Innovation, Science, Excellence (PROMISE) team at Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).

PROMISE brings together a wide variety of leading experts, from those working in the lab to those involved in clinical care, to collaborate and share knowledge. This unique research ecosystem helps turn discoveries into real-life support for kids and their families.

“It means so much to us that research continues to find better and safer treatments with less adverse effects, meaning less trauma to children and their families and fewer stays in hospital, so kids can be at home with family and friends,” says Steve. “It’s a reminder that every advance in treatment can change the life of a child and their family.”

After four rounds of chemo, countless lumbar punctures and blood tests, a feeding tube, and a lot of support from her team, Abby returned home in December of 2025. Scans taken in 2026 show Abby is in remission, and now she’s enjoying the activities she loves like 10-pin bowling, watching the Winnipeg Sea Bears, and hanging out with her older brothers Caleb and Levi.

Abby’s family feels like HSC Children’s has become a second home and are deeply thankful for the team who supported them.

“Because of the Children’s Hospital we weren’t just surviving a medical crisis in isolation—we were surrounded by a community,” says Steve. “The staff treated and helped our daughter, while the comfort supports brought moments of normal childhood joy and distraction. The care at Children’s Hospital was nothing short of amazing.”